The King's Speech

Philip Williams talks with the grandson of the Australian speech therapist who helped King George VI cope with his debilitating stutter.

Transcript

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HEATHER EWART, PRESENTER: On the eve of the Oscars the Anglo-Australian production 'The King's Speech' is tipped to scoop the lion's share of awards, with Geoffrey Rush a frontrunner for best supporting actor.

He plays the Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue, who helped the current Queen's father, King George VI , overcome a debilitating stutter.

The movie received an unexpected boost with the discovery of a treasure trove of original documents, found in a box by Lionel Logue's grandson, Mark Logue.

The ABC's Europe Correspondent, Philip Williams, went to meet him in his North London home.

(Start footage from 'The King's Speech')

GEOFFREY RUSH (LIONEL LOGUE): Feel the looseness of the jaw.

PHILIP WILLIAMS, REPORTER: It's a story of remarkable confluence of need and ability. A man who would be king in a life-changing relationship with an Australian speech therapist who helped him find the voice and the confidence to lead an empire.

(Start Coronation rehearsal footage from 'The King's Speech)

GEOFFREY RUSH (LIONEL LOGUE): Why should I waste my time listening to you?

KING GEORGE IV (COLIN FIRTH): (Yelling) Because I have a right to be heard! ...

GEOFFREY RUSH (LIONEL LOGUE): Heard as what?

KING GEORGE IV (COLIN FIRTH): (Yelling) I have a voice!

(Pause)

GEOFFREY RUSH (LIONEL LOGUE): Yes, you do.

(End Footage)

MARK LOGUE, GRANDSON OF LIONEL LOGUE: Unfortunately I never met him so I can never know, really, what the person was like. The only character I'm left with is Geoffrey Rush in the film, he's the first time I met my Grandfather, sort of face-to-face.

And I hope that what he brought to the screen, informed by the letters and the diaries, was as close to Lionel as I'm ever likely to find.

(Looking through documents)

Well this is amongst just a small collection of the stuff I found in this box in my Dad's attic.

PHILIP WILLIAMS: Amongst the hundreds of documents stored and forgotten for so long, was the very first appointment card with the then Duke of York. The start of years of treatment.

MARK LOGUE: And on first meeting him he writes of his mental state. He writes: 'quite normal, has an acute nervous tension which has been brought on by the defect of a nervous disposition.'

And on his physicality he writes: 'Well built with good shoulders, but waist line very flabby' and he goes on. But that's quite interesting, because that's one of the lines that goes into the film.

So, on finding this Tom Hooper, the director of the film, kind of goes 'this is amazing, this is gold dust, this is like lines that we can take which are authentic lines that were said in the room between them, let's, you know, let's use that.'

(Start footage of 'The King's Speech')

HRH PRINCE ALBERT, DUKE OF YORK (COLIN FIRTH): (Addressing a large crowd at Ascot. He is hesitant in front of the microphone) The .... The King ....

PHILIP WILLIAMS: The film chronicles the struggles and triumphs leading up to a speech to the nation in peril in 1939, and details the vital role played by an otherwise unknown, Lionel Logue.

(Start footage of filming of 1939 speech to the nation)

GEOFFREY RUSH (LIONEL LOGUE): (opening a window) Some fresh air.

PHILIP WILLIAMS: Would there have been another individual who had such an intense and personal close up relationship with him other than his wife?

MARK LOGUE: No-one, No-one. I mean he was, he was kind of brought into the heart of the royal family like no-one else was.

(End footage)

Lionel was attended nearly every speech. Pretty much every Christmas broadcast from '37 'til '44. The first Christmas broadcast the King every made alone, without Lionel in the room, was '44 and that's on Christmas Day. So Christmas Days were spent at Sandringham for Logue, Christmas meals were had round the family table with the royal family.

PHILIP WILLIAMS: Was there anything about him being an Australian that made him different or in some ways made him more acceptable to the King do you think?

MARK LOGUE: Yeah, I think so. There's a certain amount, a certain relaxedness about his manner. He was very approachable, very compassionate, he was a good listener.

(Start footage filming on 1939 speech to the nation)

TOM HOOPER, DIRECTOR: Can you just leave the windows? Just for this rehearsal, I want to see the wind happening.

(End footage)

PHILIP WILLIAMS: One of the other things that really strikes me about all of this is the power of the Queen Mum in all of this; the central part she plays in the King's life, but also in her relationship with your Grandfather.

MARK LOGUE: Mmmm, I mean without her, you know, there'd have been no, sort of, King, you know. Obviously she played a massive part in the cure and the exercises and making sure that he did the exercises and returned to Lionel and, you know. So, yeah, she played a massive part.

PHILIP WILLIAMS: Mark Logue thinks the reason his Grandfather's large impact was largely ignored until now was a direct response to the Queen Mother's refusal to allow authors and filmmakers direct access to documents.

That, he believes, was a response to a period she clearly found too painful to relive.

But that's not to deny the closeness of a relationship that went far beyond the professional.

MARK LOGUE: This is a letter from the Queen Mother after the King died, 1952, and it's a particularly sweet one because it kind of like, confirms that his involvement.

Here she writes: 'I think that I know, perhaps better than anyone, just how much you helped the King. Not only with his speech but through that his life and his whole outlook on life. I shall always be deeply grateful for everything you did for him. With again my heartfelt thanks. I am yours, very sincerely, Elizabeth R.'

PHILIP WILLIAMS: When Mark Logue wrote the book about his Grandfather it opened a new world of relatives and connections to Australia.

MARK LOGUE: I've had numerous letters from relatives, from patients, from just people wishing me good luck. And like literally hundreds and so that's been fantastic because that's like a, the journey continues for me. I'm still learning about him and what he did.

(Start footage of 'The King's Speech')

(HRH Prince Albert, Duke of York, in shirtsleeves, swinging his arms from side-to-side)

LIONEL LOGUE (GEOFFREY RUSH): (Off camera) Jack and Jill

HRH PRINCE ALBERT, DUKE OF YORK (COLIN FIRTH): Jack and Jill

LIONEL LOGUE (GEOFFREY RUSH): Went up the hill

HRH PRINCE ALBERT, DUKE OF YORK (COLIN FIRTH): Went up the hill.

PHILIP WILLIAMS: The movie's already swept the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Awards) and it's hoped the same will happen at the Oscars.

Thanks to a box of dusty documents, and a determined grandson, this remarkable story has history and drama on its side

(Start footage of 'The King's Speech')

LIONEL LOGUE (GEOFFREY RUSH): Deeper, good. How do you feel?

HRH PRINCE ALBERT, DUKE OF YORK (COLIN FIRTH): Full of hot air.

LIONEL LOGUE (GEOFFREY RUSH): Isn't that what public speaking's all about?